When discussing the work of Tad Williams, three words tend to crop up: ‘beloved’ (as in best-loved author); ‘warm hearted’ (his delight in creating empathic heroes and heroines); and ‘immersive’ (his ability to conjure massive, sweeping worlds rivalling Tolkien). ‘Vast’ might be a worthy fourth. I’m not sure if anyone has tried adding up the number of published words but if we assume the minimum length of any of his series books is 300,000 ( and many are much longer) my guess would be in excess of 5 million words all told. So where to begin?MORE

Like millions of other people I’m a huge fan of Frank Herbert’s Dune. I’m one of those fans who loves the David Lynch movie, who was desperate for the TV show to continue on through the whole series – even though it wasn’t the greatest of adaptations – and I played the video games to death. For sheer depth of history and mythology, the Dune Universe is arguably second only to Middle Earth. Some say that Herbert’s creation should be called fantasy, while others maintain that it is absolute science fiction. Personally, I think the amalgam science fantasy fits it the best, but as much as I love Dune, it isn’t my favourite book in the series.
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In honour of #LoveAudio week, we’re sharing our favourite science fiction and fantasy listens. From sword swinging fantasy epics to dystopian masterpieces, here are the audiobooks that kept us glued to our headphones.
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